UNDERRATED: 'The Master'

The Weinstein Company

It's a gorgeously filmed meditation on the mentor and protege dynamic and the rise of a cult, and features an acting tour-de-force from Philip Seymour Hoffman and Joaquin Phoenix, whose posture alone is twisted in such a puzzle of demented humanity he's practically the embodiment of the border between beast and manhood. And at the helm is Paul Thomas Anderson, one of the few filmmakers unafraid to allow you to leave the theater with more questions than answers.

It's a gorgeously filmed meditation on the mentor and protege dynamic and the rise of a cult, and features an acting tour-de-force from Philip Seymour Hoffman and Joaquin Phoenix, whose posture alone is twisted in such a puzzle of demented humanity he's practically the embodiment of the border between beast and manhood. And at the helm is Paul Thomas Anderson, one of the few filmmakers unafraid to allow you to leave the theater with more questions than answers. (The Weinstein Company)

It's a gorgeously filmed meditation on the mentor and protege dynamic and the rise of a cult, and features an acting tour-de-force from Philip Seymour Hoffman and Joaquin Phoenix, whose posture alone is twisted in such a puzzle of demented humanity he's practically the embodiment of the border between beast and manhood. And at the helm is Paul Thomas Anderson, one of the few filmmakers unafraid to allow you to leave the theater with more questions than answers.